Marine Lecture: Great Declines in Local Sea Birds

A Tufted Puffin of the Salish Sea. Photo courtesy of Bill Hogland.

Tuesday, November 13 at 7 p.m. at  Emmanuel Parish Hall, Eastsound

Dr. Ignacio Vilchis will give the next Marine Science Lecture on “ Causes of massive declines in Salish Sea marine birds;” his talk is sponsored by  The SeaDoc Society and YMCA Camp Orkila in the monthly Marine Lecture Series.

Where have all the birds gone?

SeaDoc Postdoctoral Fellow, Ignacio “Nacho” Vilchis, has spent the past 2 years investigating the causes of massive declines in marine bird populations throughout the Salish Sea ecosystem.

This landmark study combined decades of marine bird status and trend data from the US and Canada as well as from annual Christmas Bird Counts. Although birds pay no attention to international boundaries, most governments and non-governmental organizations only work in one country. Before this groundbreaking study, no one had analyzed and quantified marine bird declines across the entire ecosystem.

He then was able to scientifically determine several key drivers causing declines in multiple marine bird species. Nacho’s findings should help focus efforts on a few key areas to help simultaneously recover multiple declining species. Come hear all about it on November 13 at the Emmanuel Episcopal Parish Hall in Eastsound.

About the Marine Science Lecture Series: The 2012/13 Marine Science Lecture Series is designed to inspire the general public and to highlight the amazing fish and wildlife of our region. Lectures are free.

The Lecture Series is presented by program partners The SeaDoc Society and YMCA Camp Orkila. It has been made possible through generous sponsorship by Tom Averna (Deer Harbor Charters), Barbara Bentley and Glenn Prestwich, Barbara Brown, Audrey and Dean Stupke and West Sound Marina. For more information visit https://www.seadocsociety.org.